urbanMSP

At least three more light rail shutdowns planned before spring/summer are done:

• May 12-14: Franklin-38th
• June 1-5: Target Field to Franklin/Stadium Village
• June 23-July 3 (yes, you're reading that right): Target Field to Franklin/Stadium Village

It seems like every year they are shutting down Stadium Village to target field. What exactly are they doing? They also seem to always be shutting down Franklin Avenue to target field? Why are these segments of light rail being shut down more often then say, terminal two to the mall America?


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Whenever they do track work downtown those segments get shut down. And they've been doing a lot of track work downtown.

What kind of track work? Are the tracks falling apart? How come this work can not be done during the night? That would cause less disruption.


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How come this work can not be done during the night? That would cause less disruption.

Part of the issue I'm guessing is that the Green Line runs 24/7. And I have seen them do bus bridges just for the overnight Green Line before.

So I'm guessing there isn't a way to just single-track during maintenance?

Are they still working on those interlockings in downtown?

I know last year there was talk of replacing some of the switches downtown, I'd guess this may be part of that.

Also according to this: https://www.metrotransit.org/buses-repl ... ce-repairs
They're adding more switches so maybe potentially they can run single track operations on the weekend in the future for maintenance.

Really wish they could at least run to US Bank Stadium, so that light rail passengers could at least walk downtown without a bus transfer. Obviously there are operational hurdles there, but man, Franklin and Stadium Village transfers are the worst.

I'm not sure how much work the Green/Blue Line interlocking needs, but if work is being done there going to US Bank wouldn't be feasible. That being said, it would be nice to at least be able to push through to West Bank and connect to more buses at East and West Bank stations.

As for overnight work, it's almost certainly more expensive and less feasible than a few weekends a year of closures. Unless you're willing to have a significant period of time overnight once a week (as in 6-8 hours without trains) by the time setup of work and ending work to restore service again is accounted for there's only an hour or two, even on the Blue Line, in a normal evening to get work done. We'd likely either have to close the Green Line from bar close - 7-9 AM Saturdays and Sundays in order to get enough time to make up for no weekend closures. (And there might be times where it's still required to close on a weekend due to coordination issues if it's involving an entity other than Metro Transit.) That being said, the full-week closure at the end of June seems crazy ridiculous unless there's something major going on that absolutely has no other option than to be done over a full work week.

Single tracking would be nice, but I'm curious how much slower trains have to go through the work area, and if it winds up costing significantly more in labor costs due to needing more crew time. 8 weekends a year on non-event weekends isn't terrible, especially if it's not impacting the entire line.

I believe the June closure is for the rebuilding of the switches downtown.

West End plan has been restructured to retain 2 peak hour round trips trips on the 9B branch, along Glenwood from Penn to Xenia, on a demonstration basis.

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... bined.aspx
https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... ation.aspx

Anyone else feel that the Lake St Blue Line station is getting pretty nasty? One fellow commuter commented that it is one of the worst she has seen in her travels around the country. It's been a topic on Nextdoor too. Has it always been this bad? Or is it really not that bad? I've been transferring thru there almost everyday for the past 6 or 7 months. I asked one of the morning cleaners if they ever hosed it down and he said they have to wait for warmer weather, which is understandable. I wonder if it would be beneficial to close the station every night for at least an hour when the train isn't running to one, clean up the place and two prevent the station from becoming an overnight shelter.

Honestly, our city seems a lot more trashed than usual. We shouldn't be waiting to pick up litter all over the city until Earth Day. We should just always be doing it.

Off-topic though, I digress.

two prevent the station from becoming an overnight shelter.

Not sure there's a need for that.

Because if the public is already paying to heat a weather-protected space, gods forbid those in need actually use it for heated weather protection in the dead of MN winter. Better to have it sit empty and immaculate while those people freeze on the streets, right?

Because if the public is already paying to heat a weather-protected space, gods forbid those in need actually use it for heated weather protection in the dead of MN winter. Better to have it sit empty and immaculate while those people freeze on the streets, right?

I understand the coldness of my comment regarding the shelter aspect, but we could argue all day as to what is the best way to address the homeless issue. I really don't have a problem with people sleeping in public places to stay warm. The Lake St. station has become more than just a place to sleep for some. Just about every morning there is a strong smell of urine in there, complete with puddles and streams. And according to the morning cleaning guy, it can be even worse. I don't want our transit stations to become open sewer bathrooms. If there are no trains coming thru for a certain time period that would be a good time to really hose the place down and make it more sanitary. I'm not looking for immaculate, but not unhealthy would be a good start.

A public restroom is in order at this location.

A public restroom is in order at this location.

Agreed. It's really frustrating the lack of public restrooms just generally. The Parks Board are about the only ones who have any, and their hours are poor.

A public restroom is in order at this location.

AMEN.

Lake Street station is pretty gross now though, tbh. Someone (city, county, CTIB, the Lake Street Council, someone) should really work at funding better janitorial services.

Lake Street station is pretty gross now though, tbh. Someone (city, county, CTIB, the Lake Street Council, someone) should really work at funding better janitorial services.

I've been a proponent since 2004 of Metro Council considering how to provide retail *in* or *at* the major light rail stations - especially thinking of the grade-separated high-use stations such as Lake Street and the airport. It makes waiting for the train a good deal more pleasant, it creates more activity in the station, and more importantly for this point, it gives somebody a financial incentive to maintain a baseline of conditions in the station. Unfortunately, many of the *best* stations for this type of auxiliary use - Snelling, East Bank, Nicollet - are built in a way that pretty much precludes this. But Lake Street and St. Paul "Central" would both be excellent places to try this out. Heck, the contract could even include an expectation that they take part of the task of cleaning the station.